MEGADETH's Dave Mustaine has issued the following update:

"Its official, Andy Sneap finally has a VISA and can come back to the States to start or "re-start" the record. He will arrive to LAX Monday night and should be down to San Diego to his Beach Harem (my lil beach house), with his Unisom party pals. Speaking of party pals, Shawn Drover (drums) is coming back next week some time too. I just have to figure out when. i imagine with a few days of Andy to myself and the project alone with going over the remaining ideas, we should be able complete the demo process and commence with the tracking of the record.

It may seem unnecessary for an established band to demo up material, but my thinking is that Andy is such a talented producer, and I have such talented band mates, and I have always taken what our fans think into consideration - not that I listen - but I take it into consideration. This is an important record for me and Megs, hell they all have been, but this is kinda the record I have been waiting my whole career to write. The timing is perfect for me, the climate is tumultuous, the economy is terrible, the world needs a hero, and we are one blink away from total annihilation. Sounds like I got my hole-shot!

Please join me at our websites, or by using our communication devices for contacting us; our widget on our homepage or any of the boards on our website here or any of our public sites (including Gigantour); or call up and leave messages for any of us with TheLiveLine. If you are not already, you can also join our members only sites, like join me in the morning Coffee Crew chat room; or leave me a message on the Coffee Crew message boards; or contact me through our fan club with many of the "Over-the-top!" contest and opportunities to meet me and the guys while in the studio and on the "Killing Road."

Speaking of contests, I just picked the top ten winners yesterday with Dave McRobb, and I then chose the top three finalists, and while it was no easy task, I was able to settle on the winner who will be announced shortly. Our winners all received gifts, and the finalists will receive an online lesson from Chris Broderick for a guitar lesson - unless you want a workout - and the Grand Prize winner receives a Christmas Day call from me to congratulate them and to chat for a few minutes.

I am hoping against all hope that we will be done with the drum tracks by Christmas time, and that Shawn will be celebrating his Christmas at home in Atlanta - home of the fantastic Atlanta Braves, and one gazillion mosquitoes - and this is all contingent on me continuing to create new music, along with finding some gems from the past to work into or build off of for new song ideas. Going back over things you may already know, I don't mind going back and using pieces from earlier times. The riff for "Rust In Peace" was written while I was in my band 'Panic'; two bands ago.

I have to get up and try to fix my tractor. We have two corrals that need the fencing fixed on too, so I have a day of being a cowboy, and doing some chores with a mouthful of chewing tobacco! Yuck!

I really enjoy being able to be outside and working out in the sun with my hands and getting things accomplished besides getting dirty. I have found the more that I invest in my family and my friendships the better days I have been having. Of course that don't mean shit when coming up with songs about hating the government or aliens or whatever people think that I write about, but I am having a period in my life right now, where it seems like everything is exactly the way that it is supposed to be right now.

I have a great drummer; I actually respect him and laugh with him; he knows metal better than even I do; he is very supportive and protective of me. We have a great time in the studio and he is the closest I have ever gotten to a drummer - I was close to Chuck from all of the drug use, and close to Nick for pretty much more of the same, and of course all of the success that we acquired with the R.I.P. line-up, but after Nick's departure and his successor arrival, I got very guarded and was very jaded towards any new "drummers."

I have a great bassist; I respect and laugh with him too; he is very knowledgeable in the studio and in life in general; he is a "little 'older' brother" and an ambassador; I thought we had lost that dignified bassist role when David Ellefson was let go, but James has completely assumed the position that his predecessor had, and then some. Filling Jr's shoes was a tall order because we were friends and I was so defensive after he "you know what," that I doubted I would ever get close to a bassist or anyone after that. James, like Shawn, is one of my best friends.

I have a great guitarist; I respect and laugh with him and we all laugh at him sometimes too; he is by far the most knowledgeable guitarist and musicians we have ever had; he is by far one of the best guitarists and musicians we have ever had too; I get excited whenever we get to play together on stage and I hear him play his guitar and I get to say, "That's MY guitar player!" He is healthy and a decent person, and he has his priorities in order: guitar, guitar, guitar! I am thrilled to imagine the possibilities with CB.

Well, its time for me to sign off for today. I have to go take care of the horses and then to service, and then I am going to just read, read, read, all day long to get some ideas for lyrics and topics. I have some good ideas already, but I am trying to be very cautious of what I choose this time. I know some of you know me well enough to predict what i am going to write about, and that is why I am trying to be predictably unpredictable about this.

Have a great day, congratulations to the Christmas Card winner - we will be talking in a few weeks on the phone

And get ready for us to start accepting new and renewed memberships at the fan club! stay tuned for more detail from our beloved webmaster.

Until my next post, I love you all and have a great day!"